Five Cups of Tea and Sixty Hand Prints
by FightingToFly
Summary: A high school for students all around the world, beautiful and so far away from the rest of civilization... so i have on question for you; who is the mastermind behind its secretive walls? you have 365 days to find out, before time runs out. before you, and everyone around you, becomes part of the legendary school massacre...
1. Prologue

Pain. That was the first thought that rang through my mind as I shuddered, trying not to look at the blood down my arm, trying not to notice the sound of feet behind me. I had to keep moving, I had to keep on going.

There was no time to fear, there was no time to think or consider.

I wished I could have said better; been one of those who can fight and kill without a second thought, one of those who can switch their minds off to all emotions and focus on the situation. But I wasn't one of those, I was afraid and hesitating at each staggered step, pausing and wondering whether I had time to knock on a door.

Before me the floor seemed to disappear below, down into the darkness of night, and it took me another few precious moments before I realized I had reached the stairs.

Stairs.

I wasn't sure I could force myself down them; they seemed too steep, too far down.

Turning around I could now see her through the dim light, her teeth gleaming white through the darkness and her hands clutching at her waist. My senses were dulled by pain, my eye sight blurring from the loss of blood, but I was certain could hear her laughing; hear her voice echoing through the empty corridors.

Staggering back to face the stairs in one last desperate burst of energy, I felt my ankle snap. Felt the bone that had only just managed to support my weight brake and twist awkwardly outwards.

Pain wasn't even a word anymore. It had not enough meaning.

I didn't notice much after that, just the sensation of falling, the idea that I would die and the truth that my pain had only just begun.


	2. It's just the beginning

It was summer and the air was warm and soft, a gentle breeze caressing the land and no clouds in sight.

Tucked away between thick bush and sharp mountains, protected only by the lullaby of a river, a large school stood stretching over acres of land. It was huge and old, its brick walls wrapped in ivy and its rose gardens stretching out into the wild of the land.

The first World Academy; too big to ever be imagined and too perfect to be real. It was something a small child would dream of, something enchanted and big, old and full of secrets and mysteries. No one knew what hid inside each wall, what story each door could tell.

This was somewhere special, a place where students all over the world could come. It united cultures and beliefs, colours and flags. And yet there was some other unknown inside its boundary, one not even the students knew.

On this day, where the sun shown to hot and the shade of trees was welcoming, a girl sat still. She'd made herself comfortable among the twisted roots of trees, her head resting against the soft bark, brown hair twisting across her shoulders and her crossed legs buried in grass and moss.

"It's weird isn't? That on such a nice day half the school stays inside?"

Above her, draped across a few lower branches, another girl lay facing the sky. Now she turned to her side and rubbed her neck in a bored fashion; "Not really, it's boiling out here. But I guess it's odd for the guys; I mean they're normally out playing sport"

She swung one leg across the branch she lay on and jumped neatly into the grass below, her body disappearing for a minute between each long green stem. "But then again, the only reason we're out here, is because Emil said he's meeting you here"

The other girl blushed, covered her face with one hand and ducking her head to face the empty ovals. There was one small group of guys, kicking a soccer ball in the sun and laughing. At least there was some sign of life.

"Yer well I don't think he's coming…"

"Rose! God, you didn't drag me along just to give up! He's just late, that's all!"

Pulling herself back into the tree the girl watched as Rose settled back down again.

For a moment the two waited in silence, the day warming up and the breeze no longer comforting, stinging across Roses skin as she sat nervous and rigid. She wasn't prepared for a set up, too certain and lost in daydreams that Emil would come that now that sudden thought he had no intentions was terrifying.

She glanced up at her friend, Meera, lying so still, so hidden amongst her thoughts, that sometimes she didn't recognize her.

Meera must have noticed she was being watched because again she turned her face down and stretched her arm out in front of her like a cat; "Is this the right tree?"  
Rose nodded and tugged nervously at her hair, noticed how rough and coarse it felt and wondering whether that would be a turn off. "You sure he is coming?"

Scoffing Meera sat up; "Dunno, I never talk to him. but if that bastards standing you up…" she frowned and suddenly her face fell into a grin as she slipped higher into the hidden labyrinth of branches, her long pale legs disappearing from sight behind a cluster of leaves.

"Meera?" Rose called and started to push herself to her feet.

"He's coming!" a voice called from above and instantly Rose felt the blush returning and her body flood with relief. Now a new nervous feeling took hold of her and swarms of anxious butterflies beat theirs wigs in an attempt to escape her stomach.

He was coming.

And there he was, towering over her with a strange soft expression and brushing at his ash blonde hair.

"Hey" Rose smiled and beckoned for the Icelandic boy to sit. For a moment he looked awkward, crouched among long grass and staring everywhere but at Rose.

"Umm, I just wanted to…" he paused and wriggled back a bit, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and chewing on his lip. "Well I think you're great Rose and…"

He paused again and Rose felt the blood rush to her head. It hadn't been what she imagined; Emil seemed nowhere near as confident as in all her fantasies, and yet she couldn't help wonder whether this was real. Her crush on Emil seemed distant now and she was suddenly afraid that something good could possibly happen between the two.

From all her friends none had been in a serious relationship and it seemed unreal she could be the first. In fact the only other she knew to be in_ any_ type of relationship was Meera; and that was defiantly not serious, it wasn't even official, just something to whisper about behind closed curtains.

Emil had fought up the courage to continue and was finally managing to speak a finished sentence; "Honestly I don't want to ruin our friendship, because I think in the three months you've been here we've become quite close." He nodded, as if reassuring himself and forced a small smile.

Eagerly returning it Rose felt her heart beat faster, pounding from her chest and screaming 'Take me!'

"And what I came here to ask you, the reason I wanted to meet you here so early in the morning, is that…" he was suddenly cut short as to Roses horror a black sneaker fell from the branches and hit him straight across the head.

He jumped back in shock and fell sprawled against the tree, over Rose, before standing up, his face red with embarrassment.

From higher up a voice called out; "Sorry! That was mine."

Meera's head appeared down before Emil's, centimetres away from him as she grinned, dangling dangerously from her legs as she reached to grab her shoe; "My bad, continue what you were doing! Don't mind me!" and she disappeared from sight again.

"That was terrible! Do you know how embarrassing that was?"

"Chill out! You're not the one who hit her friends boyfriend with a shoe" Meera was walking two metres in front of Rose, her arms resting on her head and looking pretty proud of herself; which made Rose suspicious of whether it had been accident.

"You didn't do it on purpose did you?"

Meera spun around on the back of her heels and pointed to touch the tip of Rose's nose; "Seriously? Like I said, chill out; he asked you out didn't he? So all went well"

There was a guilty look in her eyes; but Rose didn't push it. True, it had worked out. Although it became a lot more awkward after Emil realized there'd been a third member invited to their meeting.

It was still early, with half an hour to spare before school would start, and finally the grounds of the school were starting to look more lively; groups of teenagers sprinkled across the fresh lawn. From over the mountains a pale red light still showed, the last sign the lingered of night, and school stood still and alone.

Rose suddenly stopped; had it always stood so still? Its bricks old and crumbling? And the doors gaping like an open mouth?

It appeared the whole building was screaming and drowning into something deeper…

She shook herself, awkwardly telling herself it was just the light; that she hadn't seen the school from this angel before. Ahead of her Meera had stopped to talk to Antonio, one of her close friends.

They appeared unaware, laughing and joking around.

That was right, it was just the light. And her verves, Rose _had_ only just been asked out for the first time; this was all big news.

So she hurried to catch up, joining conversation with the others.

Antonio was ranting about how they killed all the tomatoes in his gardening class by spraying them with herbicide and paused when he saw rose, his lips spreading into a wide toothy grin; "You and Emil aye?"

Blushing Rose turned away; "Shut up" she muttered and tried to ignore the pride in her stomach as Antonio started wolf whistling and claiming how cute they must be.

No one had done that to her before, especially not Antonio. A

All though she had spent long nights with Meera, gossiping under the covers about guys they liked, this was something entirely new.

Between Antonio's endless hurried talk Rose noticed another figure approaching behind Meera and as she recognized who she sighed softly. Despite enjoying the attention, she was certain this person in particular would prove to take it too far.

Gilbert, Meera's older brother, wrapped his long pale arms around his sisters waist as she jumped in shock; "Hey Sings"

"Gil!" she shrieked, turning around to slap his arms of her. He chucked, a strange and hoarse sound which always made Rose think he was slimy, and ruffled his sisters hair; "What wrong, _Sings"_

But Meera ignored his comment, and turned back to Antonio.

Sings was the nickname Gilbert had given her after apparently catching her singing in the shower, although Meera harshly denied it. The nickname had stuck though, and now a few others had started to use it.

"So Antonio, did you hear how I hit Emil with a shoe?"  
The Spaniard burst into laughter; "A shoe?" and Gilbert started his low chuckle again. The three started to go through how it all had happened and soon, as Rose had dreaded, attention turned back to her.

"Eh Emil? Well I honestly didn't think he had the nerve to ask out a girl…" Gilbert began, his voice heavily accented from his German decent. "You know Rose, if you tow want to get it off, you'll have to make the first…" He was cut off by another slap across the back, this time by a tall British boy with wild blonde hair and thick eyebrows.

"You're bloody disgusting."

"I love you too" Gilbert grinned sarcastically as Meera pushed him aside to embrace the blonde; "Arthur!"

The group continued to get bigger as more people stumbled from the dorms and into the warm air outside. Gilbert and Meera's other brother joined; a big hunk of boy with slick blonde hair and a hard expression; Ludwig. He was the serious one in the group and always getting flustered by dirty jokes and unnecessary teasing. The other two to join them were Francis and his latest girlfriend, a shy girl called Aras who also was German- both who Rose really wasn't fond of.

There always seemed to be a lot to talk about in the morning; who's dating who, what when wrong in science, why someone hated someone else and what everyone could plan to do together after graduating.

When the bell finally rang it cut through the air like knife. It never did that.

The world seemed to fall silent, frozen. Suddenly all the warmth was gone.

Again Rose felt this was wrong and as if to voice her thoughts Meera frowned and said, loud and clear; "Something is wrong"


	3. Sink hole

The gym was quiet, unlike most mornings were the giant room was crowded with tired bored and excited faces. Now it stood almost empty with less than fifty students looking dazed and unsure, swaying and searching the crowd for familiar faces that weren't there.

Rose sat against the left wall, watching Meera desperately searching for someone and holding tight to Emil's hand. "What do you thinks happening?" she asked, whispering as if afraid of who would hear.

"I don't know, this whole thing seems surreal. I mean it's probably just a mistake, something silly, yet it feels really wrong doesn't it?" Emil frowned and turned towards the large wooden doors; "I think I'll go try find one of the teachers, they're not normally this late"

He stood up slowly and started towards the door. For a moment Rose struggled to decide whether she should go as well, but the situation was answered for her as Meera grabbed her arm, pulling her up to her feet.

"You ok?" Rose asked, shocked to see her friend in such a state. Meera stood nervous, her blond hair draping over her shoulders wild from running through the tangle of people, her eyes wild and nervous.

"I lost Gilbert! God, he was with us when we came, but I can't find him anywhere!" she pushed back her hair in a distressed fashion ad turned around nervously; "Apparently there was some sort of earthquake and the corridor to section B of the school collapsed! That's why no one else could get here…" She paused, breathing heavily and still holding tight to Rose's; "What if he went over there? And something went wrong? He is such an idiot! When I find him I'm going to kill him!"

"Hey, it will be fine, calm down! He wouldn't do that, he is not stupid" Rose cursed herself inwardly, because at times Gilbert was very stupid, and she hoped Meera wouldn't notice her flaw.

Luckily she didn't, instead she started for the doors after Emil; "I'm going to find him!"

Rose sighed; everyone had started panicking now that the rumour of an earthquake had spread. And somehow it seemed very possible; if there had been an earthquake blocking section A, the actual school, from B, the dorms, and then anyone still in their rooms would be trapped. And really, if everyone stopped to think, there wasn't so much to panic about- they'd just need to call for help.

But with people crying and talking and shouting Rose didn't have the stop Meera, who was now set on the idea Gilbert was stupid enough to investigate a collapse on his own.

Luckily she didn't have to move, for Arthur had already reached Meera and was forcing her to turn to him. Even from where she was standing Rose could hear the two arguing; Arthur's voice calm and soothing while Meera stuttered and tried to beat his strong arms of her.

The two eventually made their way to Rose, Meera now a sobbing mess.

"Take her would you? This is getting bloody ridiculous. Everyone is getting worked up over nothing." He disappeared into the crowd before them as Meera tried to calm herself.

Rose paused and notice as Emil returned talking her hand to stand by her and beckoning her away from Meera.

"I can't find anyone, and the corridor to B is collapsed, all the lights are flickering and there wires everywhere. Heaps dangerous."

Rose nodded; "I heard, everyone has totally freaked." She turned her head to gesture at Meera, who had now composed herself enough to go talk to Ludwig.

Emil frowned, as if about to say something, before Arthurs voice broke in, loud and echoing through the room as he stood high up on the stage, where usually their principle would be.

"Everyone shut up and stop acting like a blood git!"

There were still a few murmurs, but slowly people were turning to face the irritated British boy. When silence fell over the gym Arthur seemed to calm down, sighing and rubbing his temple with two slender fingers; "Ok. Better. Now let's sort this out; so it seems there was an earthquake and we're cut off from B. No problem ok?"

Ludwig pulled himself From Meera and came to stand up as well; "Exactly. We will now go about his in an orderly fashion! We can split into groups to determine the situation. I will take the first group outside and have a look at what it all looks like. Arthur," he nodded gruffly to the Brit, who seemed somewhat irritated that the spotlight had been taken from him, and continued; "will take some of the others to try get into B and look for the others. The rest can try getting help. Now if we would all get into three groups… quietly without any panic?"

Apparently no one knew the meaning of quiet and there was a fare bit of commotion before things settled. Ludwig's group, which included Ivan and his sister Belarus, Francis, Feliks, Toris and five others. Arthur's consisted of Rose, Emil, Meera, Vash and his little sister Lili, Alfred, Yao, Kiku and six others- leaving only Bella, Feliciano, Matthew and Katyusha to try get help.

Ludwig motioned around to the three groups;

"Let's get going!"

The path to the corridor seemed deadly quiet, and although the lights were on across the ceiling it seemed dark, almost like night time with shadows leaping at every corner. Rose had taken up the rear with Vash walking by her side, his face knitted into a frown and his arms wrapped around his back, carrying Lili the small girl draped over him.

At the front Arthur walked with Meera, who was now a lot more controlled then most, while arguing with Alfred over his shoulder. After Ludwig's speech the atmosphere seemed less dark and more mysterious. Never had anything of this sort happened before and some people were actually excited over it all. Only a few remained panicked and even there fear remained tamed.

"Here!" Someone called out and they all turned into the collapsed corridor.

It was worse than anyone had expected. The top corridor and simply fallen into the one below, leaving only a thin strip to walk through with electric wires hanging everywhere, great slabs of concrete and a few flickering lights hanging low. A few racks showed the outside world and it seemed the beautiful weather had ended, now replaced with dark storm clouds and a cool breeze that smelt of rain.

"Wow" Meera breathed and carefully slipped past a few fallen pieces of concrete, peering to look out of the corridor and into the open. "Shit, its crazy out there!" she pulled back and turned to the others with wide eyes; "Come look, but be careful!"

Picking his way through Yao reached her, taking her place and gasping. When he too in turn turned around he looked horrified, the older Chinese boy frozen in a state of amazement. "If we want to make it B we will have to be very careful, aru"

Suddenly everyone seemed interested and when Alfred burst out into a loud chatter of how he, the hero, would save all from B, even Rose curiously peered through. The hole had once been a window, although the collapse had shattered the glass and deformed it into something odd. Pressing her body out into the oped Rose gasped as the wind pushed her down. Behind her Emil grabbed her waist; "Careful" he whispered.

Rose nodded and gasped, seeing what the others had before her. There hadn't just been an earthquake, the whole middle section of the school had collapsed into a dark pit, steep cliff falling vertically from each side o the corridor, down towards hard ground one hundred meters below.

Struggling to take it in Rose pulled back and stared dazed at Emil. He only nodded and embraced her in a soft hug. She couldn't help feeling grateful of his warm presence.

Kiku was the first to speak, brushing black strands of hair from his face; "We have to hurry and get to B. we don't know how stable this corridor is, and we don't want to get ourselves, or those in B, trapped. So let's get them back to the others and make the corridor out of bounds"

"That's a good idea, aru!" Yao nodded and started to carefully move forewords, soon disappearing behind debris. Meera followed and soon all were picking their way through. Rose felt a wave of phobia overwhelm her as she forced herself through a tight space between two fallen sides of the wall. Behind her Vash grunted in disapproval and gently put Lili down to walk before him so he could squeeze through.

It was darker inside the corridor and the only light was a flick of electricity though a wire, which they all avoided, and a rare dying light. The further they travelled the darker it became and the more eerie it began to feel again. Even Alfred shut up and they moved on in silence.

Suddenly the corridor opened out into an empty string of rooms, all dark and silent with only the casual flicker of a light bulb.

Yao breathed out heavily in relief and stood up straighter, stretching his arms above his head. For a moment they all stood still, taking deep breaths of air and feeling relieved to be free of the stuffy air.

"Let's split up, it'll be quicker to find everyone"

Rose didn't move, her neck hurt form constantly bending over through the corridor and she didn't bother looking p to see who had spoken, by the heavy accent it was probably Arthur, but she wasn't too sure.

"Come on, we'll go together" Emil loomed over her, smiling softly and reaching out with one hand. She took it gratefully, watching as everyone else split of into pairs and took different paths through the quiet buildings of section B.

The path Rose and Emil took was too quiet, no sound and no movement; all empty corridors and flickering lights, dark rooms and cloth spilled across still dorms. For ten minutes they walked; waiting, expecting for someone to appear, to welcome them and ask what happened. But the whole world seemed to have been abandoned, as if everyone just got and left- disappeared from the face of the earth.

"What is this?" touching a cracked photo frame Rose frowned. Again this all felt wrong and suddenly the earthquake didn't seem so natural, as if something dark and terrible had happened. It was almost as if the school had been abandoned for years, old and dying; as if its inhabitants had left long ago.

Emil was already leaving, walking softly as if afraid to touch the ground below him; "Lets leave and find the others, maybe they had better luck"

But suddenly the corridors leading back weren't the right ones, as if the section had turned around and changed completely, walls moving to where doors once stood. It also seemed darker once again, almost impossible to see with cobwebs and handprints covering the windows, as I someone once tried to escape.

Rose felt the breath torn from her lungs, felt herself collapse and her eyes water. This was impossible; this was like some sort of horror story.

"Emil, what is this?" she managed to sob, but the darkness swallowed her words and suddenly she feared they'd swallowed him too. But the boy stood rigid by her, barely moving, his breath shallow and his eyebrows creased.

"Arthur? Albert?" he started to walk fast through the corridors, dragging Rose behind and turning blindly.

"Meera? Yao?"

Silence.

"Kiku?"

A flickering light.

"Vash?"

Darkness.

They'd turned into a dead end with no rooms and no lights. Here rubble had fallen from the roof and small streams of light showered in from outside. It was the first sign something else existed and Rose gasped and sobbed, pulling herself to light and staring outside. She'd forgotten her will to keep calm; she just wanted now a sign, to reassure she was safe.

"What do we do now?" she wasn't whether she spoke t the light outside or Emil, but it didn't really matter.

"We find a window and get out" Emil still looked serious and relatively calm, not braking down or panicking. Though Rose was sure he was waiting to do so.

Turning her face from the dim light outside Rose felt her body go numb. Someone was standing there, at the end of the corridor facing them.

"Emil…" she whispered and slowly the Icelandic turned as well. His frown deepened; "Who the hell are you!?"

The person barely moved, taking one cautious step. Then suddenly they ran forewords, arms outstretched and eyes flickering red as a light above suddenly flickered into life.

For a second Rose wanted to scream, to run away, before she, with a shock, recognized the person.

"Gilbert!"

The albino embraced her warmly, breathing heavily and smelling of beer. Never had Rose wanted to see him more. Emil's face fell in relief and he wrapped his hands over his face, as if finally letting in weakness.

"What's happening?"

Gilbert shrugged, smoothing back his silver hair and grinning; despite the darkness and eerie feel. Carefully he turned around, facing back to the darkness; "This is pretty fucked isn't it?" he sighed heavily and suddenly Rose wondered whether he was drunk. "Anyway, I came down here to check out what happened and turns out this place is empty. Everyone is gone; probably got out through a widow or something and headed out to find help. Idiots aye? Anyway, I found the kitchen ad without any kitchen ladies to watch the alcohol…" He paused and grinned again and now Rose was sure he wasn't sober.

"How do we get out?" Emil said harshly, his whole body trembling and for the first time Rose realized how nervous he was.

Prussia turned around again and suddenly his face seemed more serious and hard; "You haven't noticed? The whole place is totally unstable, all collapsing in some type of sinkhole. That means rooms and corridors are constantly sinking and disappearing to be replaced by rooms on the next floor. So everything's changing; you'll never find the same way out. God by now the whole corridor to B has probably collapsed…"

Despite all he said Rose felt relieved. There was no dark magic, the change of walls and corridors had been explained- they were simply what stood above on the second floor, moved down by the sinking building. Still in reality it meant the danger was bigger, if the rooms they moved in sunk they would be trapped. It was like some deadly trap- or one of the video games were your stuck in a haunted building. Only this was real. It was happening.

And then another realization dawned on her; "Oh my god! The others!"

Emil seemed to notice at the same time for his eyes went huge and suddenly he was running through the corridors, calling desperately for everyone. Rose followed, urgently pulling Gilbert along while explaining what happened. And the second Gilbert realized his little sister was in danger their pace started o quicken.

It seemed to be hours, as if they were searching an empty building for a something long gone. Eventually Rose got a stitch, but Gilbert and Emil were set on finding the others and refused to stop. It felt they were getting nowhere, that they would never succeed until, far in the distance, Meera's soft voice called out.

Gilbert's eyes lit up and suddenly he was out of sight, running around corners and disappearing from sight; making it hard to keep up.

When they found Meera Rose felt as if every worry in the world had been eliminated, although she knew their problems were still big; how to get out.

Meera and Arthur, how had been paired together, had managed to figure out the mystery of section B after ending up in a sinking room and afterward somehow found the other groups. Now they were altogether the situation changed from finding each other to finding an escape. According to Gilbert there was no point getting through a window, cliffs surrounded the building completely, and the only way was to hope the corridor to A had survived.

Now the race was on, everyone kept arguing over which way to go and now that Gilberts energy rush had passed he was acting more drunk then before, swaying and needing a lot of support from Meera.

By the time Alfred let out a call of excitement everyone was exhausted and sweaty and freaking out. No one spoke as the group pushed through the rubble, not daring to think what would happen was there a collapse.

Lucky all went smoothly and when at last Arthur pushed them into the gym everyone collapsed into a heap, Rose leaning against the wall and watching everyone get comfy on the solid safe floor, Meera lying down against Arthurs chest and leaving Emil to have a look around for the others.

Ludwig's group came through the outside doors three minutes later, tired and exhausted as well. They fell down in heap with everyone else before explaining how they circled the whole ruins of section B. apparently there was a two kilometre diameter stretching around. A giant sinkhole the school had fallen into. What was a mystery was where everyone else had disappeared to.

Another was what happened to Bella's group, who also seemed to have disappeared.

Everyone in the end decided to retreat outside, where they could watch the sinkhole, in case it grew and swallowed the gym as well.

Then they all sat still, resting under the trees; crying, joking and panicking. Taking turns through each emotion. Francis and Arthur got into a full on fight about what to do next- Francis wanted to just wait for help whereas Arthur thought they should continue to look for everyone.

It only ended when Alfred interfered and even then the two glared at one another for the next half an hour.

Meera lay draped between her two brothers against a tree, sleeping sound and sobbing in her dreams. Rose and hid herself in the branches of an old oak and watched for any sign of life from the school.

But all was still.

All was silent.


End file.
